This book by Marguerite Henry is wholly a surprise to those who remember her first two charming books set in Chincoteague. This is a gritty, sometimes bloody, account of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of magnificent mustangs in the 1950s. It goes without saying that the book is well written, but the subject and descriptive matter, I submit, should shift it into a novella for the adult reader. It is only labelled child to pre-teen because of the author's reputation in that field. Any child raised on Black Beauty, Lassie, or Misty of Chincoteague should be wary of purchasing this book. It is NOT a book for the tender-hearted child.

I bought this book for my girls as they are mad about horses and liked the Misty books. This book was about Annie just as much as the horses, but I found it an excellent read just the same. More historical than fictional, but my girls devoured it just the same.